Handle grip



June 4, 1935. J, G, BOWDEN 2,003,917

HANDLE GRIP Filed Jan, 24, 1933 Control of a tennis racket,

' practically vpercentage of the players.

give the desired tacky feel, or stituents undergo some change Vablymodifies the feel of the grip.

Patented June 4, 1935 i UNITED sTATEs HANDLE GRIP poration ofApplication Januaryl, 1933,

3 Claims. (C1. 273-75) This invention relates to grips for the handlesof tennis rackets, golf clubs, and various other implements and tools,and also to the materials used inmaking such grips. f

golf club, or the like, is lgreatly facilitated if the handle has .thedesired feel. Usually this means a certain but very limited degree oftackiness sometimes combined with a slight give or yielding quality. yNaturally the requirements for a grip vary considerably with the natureof the implement on which it is used, and to some extent, also, with thedesires of different players. For example, a large proportion of thetennis players prefer to have only a slight degree of tackiness in theracket handle grip, and they want a handle which is very rm, with nogive Y or yielding characteristics. Any greatA degree of tackinessinterferes with the proper execution of the strokes and slows up theshifting of the racket in the hand which many players make in changingfrom a fore-hand to a back-hand stroke, or vice versa. Essentially thesame qualities are desirable in a squash racket handle, but a greaterdegree of yield or give is permissible there and is preferred-by alargeproportion of the players. In a golf handle grip more yield ispermissible in most cases and a higher degree of tackiness is preferredby many players than would be permissible in a tennis racket grip.

Various kinds of rubber, fabric and leather grips have been proposed tomeet these requirements but few of them have gone into use to anysubstantial extent. As a rule leatherf which has beenimpregnated withoils'and other constituents to give up the desired Vfeel is used mostcommonly for the handles of golf clubs and squash rackets, while tennisracket handles are generally used bare, no grip having been devised forthem which meets'the requirements of any substantial WhileA the leathergrip thus is very satisfactory for some purposes, it is open to theobjectionthat in a relatively short time it either'losesthe constituentswhich else these conwhichz undesir- The present invention aims to devisea grip which will meet a wider range of needs than those heretoforeavailable, and which will have a high degree of stability anduniformity.

I have found that an exceptionally satisfactory material for grips canbe made by impregnating felt with a suitable rubbery compound serving tobind the fibers of the felt securely together but water, but containing,also, some other ingredients.

permanently bonded to each other by the vulcanized latex rubber left inthe goods.

a large measure on desired bonding of the necessary tackiness whileVstill retaining the felty Tof all wool felt proximately one-twentieth ofan inch thick, very `goed results are obtained by allowing the felt toPATENT OFFICE Boston, Mass., a cor- Serial N0. 653,286

without destroying completely the fibrous or felty feel of the originalgoods. A particularly satisfactory article can be made by impregnating asheet of felt with vulcanized rubber latex, drying the goods soimpregnated, and then cutting them '5 into strips or other sectionssuitable for application to a handle. Preferably an all wool felt isused, although other fibers can, if desired, be associated with the woolfibers in very substantial proportions. The best results are produced by10 using a true felt in which the fibers are" interlocked by acharacteristic felting action. vThis necessarily means 'a wool felt butnot necessarily anall wool goods. For most purposes a felt having athickness'of in the neighborhood of one` '15 sixteenth of an inch issatisfactory, although the latex will vreadily penetrate greaterthicknesses and the thickness may be determined entirely 'in accordancewith the requirements of individual uses.'v No modification of the feltmaking' Opera- 20 tion is required for this purpose.A The vulcanizedlatex used may be that readily obtainable on the market as vulcanizedlatex or that sold under the name of Vultex. Usually these materialscontain in the neighborhood of 35% or 40% of rubber 25 dispersed in anatural serum consisting chiefly of Small proportions of protectivecolloids may be' added to the dispersion in order to prevent coagulationand to give added stability, the latex 30 usually containing also asmall proportion of ammonia which acts as a preservative.

When a sheet of felt impregnated in the manner above described'has beendried sufficiently to drive off the water and other volatileconstituents 35 of the latex, it will be found that the fibers are Atthe same time the fibers in the fabric are still prominent and the feltyfeel ofy the fabric is stillretained to a substantial degree. The extentto which these properties areA affected will depend the proportion ofrubber and it is desirable to use a of rubber to produce the fibers andto give the added to the goods, sufiicient proportion appearance andmuch of the felty structure of the goods. I have found that in treatingAa web seventy-two inches wide and aptake up approximately four-fifths ofa gallon of vulcanized latex to the running yard, the latex containingfrom 35% to 40% of solids. The pro- 55 portion of rubber so added to thegoods may, however, be varied within very substantial limits while stillproducing very satisfactory results.

Various constituents may be added to the latex in order to producespecial results. For example, pigments may be added to control the colorwithin reasonable limits. Fillers may be added to control the degree oftackiness, andthe proportion of the dispersing medium naturally will bevaried in'accordanceV with the concentration required. In fact,variation of the concentration is a convenient means for controlling thequantity of rubber added to the goods. For some purposes it will befound desirable also to add ladhesives such as casein, glue, or thelike, to the latex in order to improve the bond between the latex andfibers as well as of the nished product.

The impregnating operation may be carried out in various ways. i Aconvenient method consists in running theA goods through an impregnatingbathatY such a speed that it can take up the desired quantity of latex,passing the sheet between squeeze rolls to remove the excess material,and then drying ,the impregnated sheet at a moderate heat,.say forexample, 150 to 175 F. Usually the surface of the goods is rough andharsh after being dried,vand it can be substantially improved bypressing the dried sheet between plates heated to inthe neighborhood ofVF. Often it is more convenient to cut the goods into sheets pressureAperiod to,

say, one-half br three-quarters of a. minute, but repeating it once ortwice until the desired re- The pressing operation removes the surfaceirregularities, reduces the approximately uniform thickness, andproduces a Later the sheetscan be slitted or cut into strips to therubber art.

vpermanently together with the best results is known as NeKal BX drysold by the General Dyestu Corporation. My method of procedure has beento run the goods through a bath of this agent, and then, while they arestill wet, to run them through the latex bath. The goods could, however,be dried, if desired, between the two baths but this ordinarily is notdesirable.

While I have obtained the best results by the use of vulcanized rubberlatex, it will be evident that .rubber can be added to the felt in otherways. For example, the felt can be impregnated with ordinary orunvuleanized latex and the rubber subsequently vulcanized attemperatures well below those liable to damage the ber of the fel-t. Theso-called cold vulcanizing processes may be used for this purpose andare well known The impregnation may also be produced by dissolving therubber in a suitable use of volatile solvents also is avoided.

YTypical embodiments of the invention are illustrated in theaccompanying drawing in which,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a tennis racket having ,25

a handle provided with a grip portion embodying features of thisinvention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a strip of felt made in accordancewiththis invention; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a small section 0f the stripvshown inFig. 2 but greatly enlarged.

Figs. 2 and 3 show a. strip 2 of unwovenfeltin which still retains,however, certain of its felty characteristics. Such a strip wound aroundthe handle of a racket is illustrated in Fig. l at 3.

The grip provided by this invention is subaected by any down veryuniformly and without changing substantially in characteristics, and istherefore extremely stable. Y Y

Having thus described my invention, YwhatI desire to claim as new is:

l. A handle grip comprising a :flexible strip of col felt, the fibers ofwhich are elastically bonded 2. A handle grip comprising a flexiblestrip .of woolfeltimpregnated with a suicient proportion of latex rubberto bond` the bers of the felt together,Y the quantity of the rubberbeing so limited as to preservev a substantial portion of the lfeltyfeelof the goods. Y

-3. A handle grip comprising a flexible strip of wool felt of`approximately uniform vthickness JAMES G. BOWDEN.

